Food & Drink
Lillie J’s Kitchen & Cocktails: Jamaican Spice with Southern Soul
International Restaurants: Find Cuisines from Across the Globe Just Down the Road
If you look at Tiffany Coleman’s resume, you’ll see an extensive background in talent management and talent production in film and television.
“I’m definitely a behind-the-scenes person, for sure. I’m too shy to be out front,” she said. “I’m good at managing things – schedules and stuff like that.”
But, if you look into her heart, you’ll find a person who loves her roots and the art of perfecting a delicious dish. Although she hasn’t given up her career in entertainment, Coleman has branched out into another field – restaurateur.
Generations of culinary love
“I’m originally from New Jersey, but my mom was born in Jamaica. She came to America when she was very young,” said Tiffany. “She stayed in the kitchen with her mom, and that’s where she learned to cook.”
Like in many close-knit communities, neighbors and aunts also contributed to Annette Coleman’s culinary training.
“She just loves the kitchen,” said Tiffany. “I guess that was therapeutic for her … because she left Jamaica at such a young age to come to America that her cooking brings the families together. It was like a focal point for people to fall in love with her.”
Subsequently, the craft was passed down to Tiffany, who experiences the same love of cooking. But, unlike her mother, she doesn’t work at a quick pace.
“I know how to cook because I was always in the kitchen with my mom,” Tiffany explained. “But I really like to take my time. It’ll take me hours to cook a meal. So, I’m not the one cooking for a restaurant. But my mom can do it in no time with her eyes closed.”
Multi-talented Annette has owned, managed and consulted on numerous food businesses in the metro Atlanta area.
“This is actually our, well, my mother’s fifth restaurant,” Tiffany said. “It’s my first one all hands in.”
Annette started a restaurant in New Jersey with Rita Owens, Queen Latifah’s mom before she moved to Georgia. The family also owned a breakfast bar in Jersey.
“When we moved down to Georgia in 2009, she opened another restaurant,” said Coleman. “We had two in Georgia before opening Lillie J’s.”
What’s in a name?
Ironically, Tiffany didn’t name her first restaurant after her mother, the person who nurtured her love of cooking.
“The restaurant is actually named after my dad’s mother, Lillie Jones,” she said. “We were trying to be funny. … She doesn’t know how to cook at all. She can barely boil two eggs.”
But Jones loved good food and good conversation.
“She’d sit in the kitchen with my mother while she cooked, and they’d talk and have a good time,” said Tiffany. “So, my mom wanted people to be like Lillie J and enjoy a meal in the same way my grandmother did.”
Annette is the head chef at Lillie J’s, but the concept and the management belong to Tiffany. She comes in early, gets things going, and moves through the many restaurant tasks.
“People think she’s Lillie J because they are her recipes,” said Tiffany.
Jamaica meets the South
The food blends Jamaican spice and American soul, with Annette’s creativity thrown in for good measure.
Many of her New York area friends and family had Southern roots and taught her how the South fixes collard greens, yams and a whole slew of other mouth-watering dishes.
“I would say it’s a fusion restaurant,” said Tiffany. “We’ve got a little Jamaican, a little Southern American and a lot of love.”
Traditional fare such as shrimp and grits and Southern fried chicken are expected, as well as curry chicken and braised oxtail. But there are twists on the menu, like brussels sprouts tossed in guava or avocado toast topped with plantains.
Even the cocktails are diverse.
You could order an “Island Mule” or a “Dark and Lovely” as easily as a “Listen Linda” or a “Wrecked Side Car.”
Although she loves everything on the menu, Tiffany said one of her absolute favorites is the honey cornbread.
“I’m always mixing it on my plate with yams or even the mac and cheese – it’s just ridiculous!” she said.
Anyone who likes to lick their fingers and get personal with their meal will have a dilemma in choosing what to try.
“Just get one of everything,” Tiffany said. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Best of both worlds
Lillie J’s is in its second year and doing well, said Tiffany, but she wants it to do better. Splitting her time between two careers isn’t easy, but she believes she can make it work.
Besides being a phenomenal cook, Annette is a successful hairdresser.
“My mom has done hair for a very long time. Well, my whole, honestly,” said Coleman.
She worked on the Ricki Lake Show, the Queen Latifah Show and the Court Show with Judge Glenda Hatchett. Her connections helped open doors for her daughter, and the two formed a community within the television and film industry.
“I’d always go to work with [my mom] when I was on break from college,” she said. “I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I fell into TV and film.”
Coleman said she loves what she does but wanted to try something different.
“For the past decade, I’ve been dedicating my life to other people’s lives, and I just felt like I wanted something of my own,” she said.
She doesn’t have plans to leave the film and television industry.
“It’s something I can’t get away from, but it’s more like I could do all my eyes closed,” she said.
So, the restaurant business is a new challenge she hopes will succeed – one bite at a time.
Lillie J’s Kitchen & Cocktails
5975 Peachtree Pkwy Suite 102
Peachtree Corners, GA 30092
www.lilliejs.com 678-395-4095
Find two dozen more international restaurants in Peachtree Corners here!
Politan Row at The Forum is officially open!
Peachtree Corners’ newest hotspot has arrived, and they’re serving up a wide variety of delicious food, drinks and incredible vibes.
The food hall’s chef-driven restaurants include:
- 26 Thai Kitchen & Bar
- Boca Taqueria
- Gekko
- Kimchi Red
- LOL Burger Bar
- Sahirah Kebab & Curry
- Sheesh Mediterranean
Preview event
Peachtree Corners Magazine was invited to see the space and sample the food before the big grand opening. Here are a few photos from that sneak-peek, preview event.
Photos by George Hunter / Rannulf Media (@rannulf.media on Instagram)
The space
The food
The people
About Politan Row
Politan Row is a talent-driven food hall platform. Founded in 2014, they create design-forward destinations for the culinarily curious, offering an elevated food hall experience that encourages the exploration of shareable dishes in beautiful, inviting and communal spaces.
Their mission is to serve people who crave unique flavors, experiences and ideas while creating opportunities for local food and beverage talent to showcase their creativity and advance their careers. For more information, visit politanrow.com.
About The Forum Peachtree Corners
The Forum Peachtree Corners (The Forum) is a 500,000-square-foot outdoor lifestyle center originally opened in 2002.
Today, The Forum is home to 100,000 square feet of office, 10,000 square feet of community gathering space and nearly 70 retailers, restaurants and service providers, with more to come as part of an ongoing redevelopment project designed to transform the property into a mixed-use destination. The Forum is owned by Nuveen Real Estate and Jamestown through a joint venture partnership.
For more information, visit theforumpeachtree.com/politanrow.
Once the travel restrictions mandated by the coronavirus were lifted, it seems the world chose to shake off its cabin fever. Even people who weren’t all that adventurous found themselves headed to foreign lands.
That wanderlust wasn’t just good for the travel industry. It proved to be a boon for restaurants as well. Those specializing in exotic cuisines found new customers who’d either traveled abroad and wanted to relive their vacations through food or who were heading to an overseas destination and wanted to sample local flavors before arriving.
Marcia Reid, co-owner of Jamaican restaurant Kool Runnings said that since opening 30 years ago, they’ve prided themselves in educating diners about Caribbean food — what makes one island different from another and what to look for in authentic cuisine.
“Throughout the Caribbean, we’re known for using spices, coconut milk and fresh ingredients,” she said. “You’ll probably find some form of rice and peas or beans everywhere, but that’s where the similarities end.”
To aid readers who are contemplating a trip to the Caribbean or who are interested in trying the cuisine closer to home, Southwest Gwinnett magazine sought out local restaurateurs and dug into some of the history behind the bold flavors.
Variations on similar ingredients
The Caribbean, a region located between North and South America, is made up of 13 independent countries and several territories:
- Independent countries: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago
- Territories: Anguilla, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Saint Martin/Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and other dependencies and municipalities
Although local produce plays a big part, Caribbean cuisine as a whole is a vibrant tapestry woven from the rich cultural heritage of the islands, as well as the region’s complex history of colonization and cultural exchange. African, European, Indigenous and Asian culinary traditions are all reflected in foods of the Caribbean.
Common ingredients include rice, beans, cassava, cilantro, bell peppers, chickpeas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and coconut. The cooking methods, levels of heat, variations of spices and other factors take those staples in many different directions.
More than jerk
When many people consider Caribbean food, the first thing that comes to mind is Jamaica and perhaps its most famous dish — jerk chicken. But according to Reid, there is much more to her island home than spicy barbecue.
One of Kool Runnings most popular dishes is the Rasta pasta. A fusion of Italian and Jamaican flavors, the dish is penne pasta tossed with a jerk-infused cream sauce and colorful bell peppers.
“That’s a good introduction to Jamaican food,” said Reid. “It’s a little bit of the familiar with that extra little bit of Jamaican flair. It’s colorful, it’s very healthy tasting and it’s not as spicy as traditional jerk.”
The pepper of choice in Jamaican cuisine is the Scotch bonnet, which measures 100,000–350,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU) — making it 40 times hotter than the jalapeño, which typically measures 2,500–8,000 SHU. There’s a fruitiness to the pepper though, and the heat comes at the back end.
Still, Reid suggests washing down the meal with the famous Red Stripe beer or any other cold beverage to help with the heat.
Curries and more
For those who may be a little sensitive to spicier foods, curries are another Jamaican staple.
“There were so many different cultures that [helped] make up Jamaica,” she said. “It was like a trading post, and all kinds of spices were introduced.”
Indian influences brought about curries — from chicken to goat to chickpeas.
“We took the basic curry and made it our own,” Reid added.
With many people forgoing meat, Kool Runnings sells a lot of curried chickpeas. While naturally low in saturated fat, chickpeas are nutrient dense. They provide nearly 20 grams of protein in a half-cup serving, along with five grams of dietary fiber. That’s more protein than a boiled egg.
But Reid said many vegetarians enter the restaurant and revert to what she calls “flexitarians.”
“They’ll order rice and peas and ask for oxtail gravy,” she chuckled. “They don’t want to eat the actual meat, but the gravy is so good they can’t resist.”
Two countries, one island
Cristino Hiraldo had been studying medicine in his home county of Dominican Republic while working at a restaurant at the airport to support himself and his family. A car accident caused him to lose sight in one eye, and that derailed his medical career. Looking to change directions, he moved to the U.S. in November 2002. His wife and children came later in February 2003.
Having a passion for food and the skills obtained in the restaurant, Hiraldo found work at different Dominican restaurants in the area. When a place he was working at closed down, he decided to sell meals out of his house.
“A lot of people got used to his flavors and the way that he cooked, so it was pretty successful,” said his son, Cristian Hiraldo Garcia.
Although his dishes were based mainly on the cuisine he grew up on, he added a few touches from his training in international dining. Word of mouth kept the family busy, and soon they had saved enough to purchase a stand-alone restaurant that was going out of business.
Café Dominican
Since Café Dominican is open for breakfast, Milagros Garcia, Cristino Hiraldo’s wife and the restaurant’s co-owner, suggested serving traditional mangú tres golpes. Tres golpes means “three hits,” and the dish is considered the breakfast of kings.
It consists of mangú, or mashed plantains, queso de freir (a white cheese that gets crispy when fried because of its high melting point), fried salami and eggs. The dish is often topped off with tangy, pickled red onions to balance the richness.
Those familiar with Puerto Rican food may mistake mangú for mofongo. Although they both start with raw plantain, they end up very different. Mangú consists of boiled mashed plantains (green or ripe) mixed with butter, garlic and salt.
Shared roots, different flavors
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, so much of the food has similar roots but tastes decidedly different. A typical Haitian lunch is rice and beans, also known as riz et pois. Traditionally, it was meant to provide crucial carbohydrates to field workers. It is often preceded by a plate of viv — boiled plantains, boiled roots and tubers and meat.
Another must-have Dominican dish is la bandera, a traditional Dominican lunch. This dish’s name translates to “the flag” because its elements are meant to depict the colors of the Dominican flag (red, white and blue). Traditionally, the main ingredients are white rice, red kidney beans (although they can be substituted with black beans or pigeon peas) and either chicken or beef. This dish is paired with some type of salad and, quite often, tostones (fried green plantain).
Contact information
Kool Runnings
5450 Peachtree Pkwy., Norcross
(770) 441-0207 • For orders: (770) 441-0206
Café Dominican
4650 Jimmy Carter Blvd., Norcross
(770) 758-3374
Popular local eateries round out seven-vendor lineup at Politan Row at The Forum, slated to debut early 2025
Food hall veteran and hospitality operator Politan Group is gearing up to open its third Atlanta-area Politan Row in Peachtree Corners in early 2025.
The company recently announced four more concepts joining Politan Row at The Forum, including Chef Helio Bernal’s Boca Taqueria, Alice and Joey Lee’s Kimchi Red, Cassidy Jones’ LOL Burger Bar and Abdul and Rabia Siddiqui’s Sahirah Kebab & Curry.
“Following the success of Politan Row at Colony Square, it was a no-brainer to partner with Politan Group on bringing this experience to Peachtree Corners,” said Adam Schwegman, director and head of retail leasing at Jamestown. “This destination is much more than your average food hall, and we can’t wait for the community to get a taste of what these local chefs will be serving up in downtown PTC.”
Boca Taqueria and Kimchi Red
Boca Taqueria —Peachtree Corners resident, Chef Helio Bernal, launched his career in 2017 with The Real Mexican Vittles, a pop-up cart and food truck business focused primarily on serving bites around the Atlanta brewery scene.
On the heels of its success, Bernal opened Summerhill’s Boca Cocina de Barrio in 2022, his first brick and mortar location with a full menu and craft bar offering Mexican cuisine like birria tacos, queso fundido and enmoladas. An offshoot of his Summerhill location, Boca Taqueria will be Bernal’s first counter-service restaurant in his own neighborhood.
Kimchi Red —With two existing Georgia suburb locations, local owners Alice and Joey Lee will debut their third installment of Kimchi Red in Peachtree Corners.Ranked number one of 25 on Yelp’s “Top Spots for Fried Chicken in the United States,” Kimchi Red is best known for its Korean fried chicken.
The menu features family-style portions of fried chicken paired with unique flavors such as a honey butter balsamic glaze, kimchi, onion stir-fry sauce and more. Additional offerings include kimchi fried rice, signature plates with proteins like bulgogi or skirt steak and specialty noodle dishes.
LOL Burger Bar and Sahirah Kebab & Curry
LOL Burger Bar — Newnan, Georgia native, Cassidy Jones, always felt the pull of entrepreneurship, so in 2022,she dove in headfirst with the opening of LOL Burger Bar in West Midtown. Jones’ LOL stands for “live out loud,” and at her restaurant, the staff strives to follow that motto by creating memorable guest experiences with every visit.
On the menu, customers can choose from a selection of signature griddled burgers loaded with interesting toppings like macaroni and cheese and pulled pork or try something more classic like a traditional cheeseburger. Chicken wings, fries and milkshakes are also available. This expansion marks the second location for the brand and first foray into a suburban market.
Sahirah Kebab & Curry —Sahirah Kebab & Curry is a fast-casual Indian restaurant led by husband-wife team Abdul and Rabia Siddiqui. The duo has been cooking for many years in notable Atlanta restaurants, with the former most recently holding chef positions at Tabla and Blue India.
Guests can expect prominent Indian cuisine favorites such as curries, samosas and biryani. This restaurant will be the Siddiqui’s second location, marking their first expansion out of Politan Row at Colony Square.
Full lineup of restaurants
These businesses join previously announced 26 Thai Kitchen & Bar, Gekko Kitchen and Sheesh Mediterranean to round out the seven-vendor lineup at Politan Row at The Forum, in addition to Italian-American family restaurant and wine bar, Millie’s Pizzeria, which will be housed in a standalone building adjacent to the food hall.
Redevelopment at The Forum
Politan Row at The Forum’s opening will mark another significant milestone in the property’s ongoing redevelopment, started by North American Properties’ Atlanta subsidiary (NAP Atlanta) last spring.
NAP Atlanta was acquired by global, design-focused real estate investment and management firm Jamestown in October 2024. Jamestown is now an investor in The Forum, through an affiliate, and oversees management along with retail leasing.
About The Forum Peachtree Corners
The Forum Peachtree Corners (The Forum) is a 500,000-square-foot outdoor lifestyle center originally opened in 2002.
Today, The Forum is home to 100,000 square feet of office, 10,000 square feet of community gathering space and nearly 70 retailers, restaurants and service providers, with more to come as part of an ongoing redevelopment project designed to transform the property into a mixed-use destination. The Forum is owned by Nuveen Real Estate and Jamestown through a joint venture partnership.
For more information and to stay updated on the latest property news and happenings, follow The Forum on Facebook, Instagram and X or visit theforumpeachtree.com.
About Politan Row
Politan Row is a talent-driven food hall platform. Founded in 2014, they create design-forward destinations for the culinarily curious, offering an elevated food hall experience that encourages the exploration of shareable dishes in beautiful, inviting and communal spaces.
Their mission is to serve people who crave unique flavors, experiences and ideas while creating opportunities for local food and beverage talent to showcase their creativity and advance their careers. For more information, visit politanrow.com.
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